Most of my
reading time is spent in scripture or books about grace, but when I am on
vacation I like to read novels, preferably love stories. You might think that, if the plane went down, I’d
want to be found reading scripture, but grace has made me secure enough to face
God with a Debbie Macomber book in hand, if necessary.
I was
struck again on my recent trip to Florida that all love stories have a similar
theme. There is always someone who is
unloved and thinks they will never find true love. Sometimes they harbor a secret shame from
their past which causes them to feel unworthy of love; sometimes they have been
told they were unlovable by a parent or sibling or former spouse, and they
believe it to be true; sometimes they are carrying the burden of someone else’s
problems, bearing the responsibility alone because they can’t imagine that
anyone else would be willing to help them.
Then, they
find someone who seems too good to be true; someone who sees them for who they really
are and not only loves them, but is willing to patiently break down all the
walls they have put up and overcome all of the obstacles they have put in the
way; someone who not only listens to them but genuinely hears them; someone who
encourages them and is willing to be with them in any way that is needed. There is always a struggle to believe and
then a humble, grateful surrender to being finally, genuinely loved.
It’s what
we all want. It’s the story of grace! On a messy human to messy human basis, it
seldom works out the way it does in books, but with God that’s exactly how it
works out, every time—only better!
I love the
book of Hosea in the Bible. It’s a different kind of love story. In Hosea 12:10 God says that he tells
parables through his prophets and God definitely used Hosea as a living
parable. He instructed Hosea to marry
a woman who, if she was not a prostitute, was at least someone who had no
boundaries when it came to sleeping with other men. So, Hosea married Gomer.
God told
Hosea that this living parable represented his people’s unfaithfulness
to him and how he relates to them in the face of their unfaithfulness. The first chapter and a half recount Gomer’s infidelity. She bore Hosea several children, but there is
some question as to whose they really are.
God instructs Hosea to give them disgraceful names: Not Loved (or No Mercy) and Not My People,
and in chapter two, which presumably is speaking of both Israel and Gomer,
calls them children of adultery, conceived in disgrace (verses 4-5). God then
goes on to describe how he intends to block Israel/Gomer from her lovers until
she comes to a point where, out of frustration, she will decide to go back to
her husband because she was better off, even though she still won’t acknowledge
all of the blessings he lavished on her.
In chapter 2 verse 13, He declares that he will take away all of those
blessings, because of all of the days she went after her lovers, but forgot
him.
Then, in
verse 14, something unexpected happens.
God says, “Therefore”, meaning, in light of all that she had done and
God had done to humble her, “I am now going to….” Our Action/Consequence nature fully expects
God to fill in the blank with a long, specific list of how he will pour out his
wrath on her and destroy her for her ingratitude and unfaithfulness; instead,
he says he is “going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and
speak tenderly to her. There I will give
her back her vineyards and will make the Valley of Achor [which means ‘trouble’]
a door of hope. There she will sing as
in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord, you will call
me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master’.” Instead of making Israel/Gomer justly
suffer the consequences of her actions, God sets out to woo her back to him
with tender words and undeserved gifts; making the valley of her trouble a door which leads to hope.
For the
Action/Consequence mind, this is hard to accept. There is nothing in the preceding verses which
indicates that Israel/Gomer had seen the error of her ways and was truly
repentant. Even the decision to go
back to her husband wasn’t made out of remorse; it was made for selfish reasons. There was nothing in her that was worthy of
God’s love; and yet, instead of turning his back on her or destroying her, he
pursued her.
We want to
give Gomer, Israel, ourselves, credit for something in us which deserves this love;
at the very least, we want to claim that we recognized on our own how awful our behavior had been,
and that we mustered up a desire to change and make things right with God; but, there is no
hint of that in this story, because this is the story of God’s love in the face of our unworthiness. We, like Gomer, are bereft of worthiness. We have accepted all of the lavish gifts of
God, with dim recognition; taking them for granted; often giving ourselves or
others the credit. We have denied his
claims on us and have run to anyone and anything else to satisfy our wants and
desires. We are incapable of appreciating
true love when it is given to us, much less being able to give it in return. We are this way simply because it is our nature. We have nothing to offer God but our sin.
For this
very reason, God sent Jesus; not because we deserved to be rescued and loved;
but because, in his mercy and goodness, he simply loved us; and, knowing that we could never deserve it, he desired to rescue us. He woos us with his Spirit and draws us to him, lavishing
his gifts on us, whispering tender words, giving us hope. Because of God’s goodness, not ours, he promises that he will
now call us My People and My Loved One, and we will call him My Husband. “I will betroth you to me forever;” He
promises, “I will betroth you in righteousness [His righteousness] and justice
[His justice], in love [His love] and compassion [His compassion]. I will betroth
you in faithfulness [His faithfulness], and you will acknowledge the Lord.”
Hosea 2:19-20
Best
romance of all time!
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